Winders: Running a naked puppet into the ditch

Posted: Sunday, July 22, 2007

Jason Winders

Executive Editor

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Q: How did Jim Whitehead lose the 10th Congressional District runoff?

I think Charles Bullock said it best last week.

The University of Georgia political science professor, perhaps one of those noted Athens liberal academics Whitehead kept in his cross hairs, neatly summed up the favorite's failed campaign in nine words. "The more he talked, the more people he alienated," Bullock told The Hill.

For pundits who might have looked to this district as a barometer of nationwide voter tastes in 2008, I'm not sure they got it. Exactly how does one read an ber-conservative Republican defeating a conservative Republican in a Republican-controlled district?

Not a lot of foreshadowing there.

But if they were looking for a glimpse into the influence currently held by the state's GOP power structure, this race offers up an interesting perspective.

Whitehead was the party's pick. But despite being supported, endorsed, financed and staffed by GOP insiders, he lost. Badly. Everyone from the governor on down the GOP food chain - including local favorites state Sen. Bill Cowsert and former state Sen. Brian Kemp - dirtied their hands on this one.

I would think it's not only embarrassing, but cause for pause as well.

Sure, Whitehead lost in a close race. But keep in mind Paul Broun had no business competing with a candidate hooked up from the start. None. Whitehead should have walked away with a 70-30 or 60-40 victory. So even this narrow win by Broun should be considered a landslide.

This signals gut-check time for the state GOP.

Ego and arrogance fuel the continuing collapse of their national party; now it threatens the state GOP as well. In fact, they're already starting to eat their own.

Among the party faithful, you're seeing the blame game play out as they look for someone, anyone to pin this on. Quoting an unnamed Whitehead operative, The Hill pulled back the curtain on the much-rumored rift in Team Whitehead.

"There was a decision made early on to, basically, tell Athens to shove it and ignore them," the operative said. "We didn't go to their debates; we got in a big confrontation with the Athens Banner-Herald. In retrospect, those things were a big mistake, because it really galvanized the Athens area against Jim Whitehead."

Blending local Whitehead loyalists with former Rep. Charlie Norwood staffers, now full-fledged D.C. insiders, might not have been the best plan.

Many saw this coming. Maybe not it leading to a Whitehead loss, but certainly we started seeing a lot of doubt in their eyes late in the campaign.

A tremendous amount of blame falls squarely on the shoulders of Whitehead's handlers, who orchestrated a foolish, cold, disconnected and arrogant effort.

You'll be hard pressed to remember a worse-run campaign than Team Whitehead's last few weeks. They managed to turn a 2-to-1 general election lead and the full endorsement of the state party into a runoff loss to a very beatable candidate. Amazing.

Thinking they had it in the bag, Team Whitehead simply forgot to run the race.

When he wasn't downplaying voter concerns over Iraq or illegal immigration, Whitehead spoke of the committee assignments "people in Washington" had in mind for him. These repeated and premature delusions of grandeur gave detractors more and more material and supporters further reason to doubt.

State GOP backers and staffers alike fed Whitehead too many lines. As the weeks went on, he looked less and less like his own man and more and more like a puppet controlled by his D.C. handlers.

During my lone one-on-one with the man, after one such oddball rant on how happy D.C. will be to see him, I wrote and circled one word atop my page of notes: "Sad."

I stick to that. In the end, you only can blame one person for this complete and utter collapse: Jimmy Whitehead.

He seemed like a nice man, but a terrible candidate who found himself in over his head far too often. And that's when the over-managing kicked in.

Not only did the emperor not have any clothes, but it turns out the emperor actually wasn't an emperor at all, but instead a simple Augusta tire salesman.

In the end, supporters and opponents alike started to see through the guy's thin comprehension of the world outside Columbia County.

Believe me, it ruins the show when the audience starts to see the puppet's strings. And that's what happened here. Even for the most seasoned candidate, that's a tough situation to talk your way out of that.

Especially when that candidate doing the talking is Jim Whitehead.

 Jason Winders is executive editor of the Athens Banner-Herald. He can be contacted at jason.winders@onlineathens.com.